The invention relates to a call waiting feature for telephone calls and more particularly relates to a call waiting feature for a called telephone station set that is busy as a result of being connected to the Internet via an enhanced telephone central office system.
Call waiting is a telephone feature that is provided by a telephone switching office, e.g., a Central Office (CO), to alert a called party to an incoming call when that party""s telephone station set is busy with another call. We have recognized that a telephone switching office cannot apply the call waiting feature to the telephone line that is connected to the well-known Internet. This limitation stems from the fact that the application of call waiting signals to the telephone line would interfere with the data connection. Also, when a data call is established between a subscriber""s telephone line and the Internet via an Internet Access Service (IAS), the subscriber would not be able to hear the call waiting tone even if the data connection/communications were able to recover from the interference. Disadvantageously, then, a telephone subscriber who subscribes to call waiting cannot be notified that a call is waiting when the subscriber""s line is connected to the Internet.
In co-pending U.S. application Ser. No. 08/562,678, filed Nov. 27, 1995, entitled xe2x80x9cCall Notification Feature for a Telephone Line Connected to the Internet, xe2x80x9d which is incorporated herein by reference, we disclosed a method to overcome this disadvantage: by placing new functionality at the IAS and the called party""s data terminal; by activating conventional call forwarding to route the subscriber""s incoming calls to the IAS rather than giving busy signals; and by utilizing the new IAS and data terminal functionality first to notify the called party of the incoming call, and then, if requested by the called party, to connect that call to the called party. The connection between the incoming call and the called party was via the IAS and data terminal on the existing connection by converting conventional telephone voice signals to packetized voice signals suitable for transmission over an Internet connection.
In accordance with the present invention, we have found that an alternative to the call forwarding feature disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 08/562,678 may be used to achieve the same benefit, i.e., to notify a subscriber of a waiting call even though the subscriber""s telephone line is connected to the Internet. This alternative also provides the additional benefit of providing the subscriber with additional options for responding to incoming calls. Specifically, in accordance with the present invention, the telephone central office serving the subscriber may be equipped with the Internet Access Service provisions disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 08/562,678. A call directed to the subscriber will be processed at such an enhanced central office (ECO) in a conventional manner if the subscriber is not connected to the Internet via its IAS equipment, and will now be processed according to a method similar to that disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 08/562,678 if the subscriber is connected to the Internet via the ECO""s IAS equipment. That is, the ECO""s IAS establishes a new communication with the subscriber via the Internet access connection, and then notifies the subscriber of the waiting call via the Internet access connection. The ECO may then connect the incoming telephone call to the subscriber via that Internet access connection responsive to a subscriber request to do so.
Additionally, the subscriber may be offered service options not available with conventional telephone central office services nor disclosed in U.S. Ser. No. 08/562,678, e.g., the option of terminating or suspending the Internet call so as to be able to answer an incoming call in a conventional manner, and the option to set up a three-way conference among the subscriber (talking via the existing Internet connection) and two incoming calls from other parties.